I suppose someone should point out that whether this new offering is any good or not, the original Xcom is still perfectly playable supposing you can
a) make it happy running on a modern OS
and
b) see past the 320x240 resolution
I replayed it as recently as a year or so ago. Still good as is.
I’m curious to see how much support 2K will give this game given their stance on the genre last summer. I have no doubt the game will be fantastic (well, I hope it is anyway) but I have a hard time believing 2K will properly push it.
I tried not too long ago and it made my eyes bleed.
I was hesitant to get excited, too, but the announcement linked in OP stated:
The huge feature in February’s Game Informer goes into all the gory details of XCOM’s destructible tactical environments, the interaction between the real-time strategic view and the turn-based combat, how the XCOM organization improves its capabilities as the war rages on, and much more.
It sounds like they’re hitting all the right elements. Put me down as cautiously optimistic.
Also c) the hunt for that one last goddamn enemy who’s hiding somewhere in a one-unit-sized room and will instantly reaction-shot kill the first person who opens the door/turns around the corner.
I have a 27 inch monitor and it just fries my eye balls at this point. Plus the pointer moves at a million miles per hour.
I suspect no game will ever truly replace the original because of the nostalgia factor. Still, it isn’t so much that I want an X-Com remake as it is that I want a new turn-based squad tactical game with shiny graphics and a modern user interface, something I (mostly) trust Firaxis to deliver.
Also, how long has it been since an attempt has been made with a decent budget by a proven developer? I think as games like this fade further into memory fans of the genre will be more forgiving and embrace what we do get more enthusiastically…i hope so anyway.
Yeah, those are tougher things to do these days. I admit, I haven’t played the “pure and true” original, but I’ve played Pocket UFO, which seems to be exactly the same game only (I think) open-source. Based on screenshots and stuff, it’s the same game. I’ve never gotten it to run full-screen, but I’m not sure I’d want to.
I mean it was fun and all, don’t get me wrong, but if they can capture the same spirit in a modern-day remake, I’d be all over that.
A lot of the clones seems failed, or are not popular to the level of the original. So seems hard.
I remember buying one of the clones, only to find the graphics where very good, but nothing was destructible, ruining all the most fun strategies on a xcom game. It was very angry, I am still very angry about that.
I use to play the c64 version of Laser Squad with my brother, on a special 11’ monitor, turning the monitor 180º every time was the other player turn. Frozen Synapse sorta 1997.
We’re 5 days into 2012. Might as well start another discussion about X-COM remakes.
Just be happy if we get a competent modern tactical/strategy game, folks.
Huh, I think the 1st X-Com graphics look fine. It’s aged way better than the early polygonal monstrosities, anyway. Sprites are timeless.
I think the trap that a lot of these remakes fall into is that they try to remake X-COM almost exactly as it was, and not how it should be now. Heck, even X-COM 3 (X-COM: Apocalypse) changed the game greatly, adding real-time, gravity based destruction, the destructible cityscape, and all kinds of newly improved things.
Any new X-COM game better be a reimagining rather than a remake. I would be sorely disappointed if we didn’t get new kinds of aliens, a completely different overall threat, and vastly improved mechanics from the original. Dreamland Chronicles looked awesome to me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Most of the awesomeness of the original game came down to three things:
Miss one of those three things and whatever you make is not going to be as good as the original. Hit those three and change a bunch more stuff, and I think you’ve got a winner, at least critically.
I’m not going to worry about the possible negatives until we know more. For now this is nothing but positive news.
But it does make me wonder about the backtracking on the other title in light of this revelation. Why would they care about some of the fanbase backlash if they knew this was coming for those folks anyway? Might as well go full-out for a different audience.
Ehh, that was only really a problem in Terror From the Deep.
Damn those cruise liners…
That’s the only sure thing out of this news. You and everyone else!
This is great news. I would be scared of the multiplatform nature of the game, but with Civ: Rev Firaxis proved they can make great turn-based gaming on a console. So bring it on!
HUZZAH! This is great news. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome, very happy to see this. Looking forward to reading more about it.
Between X-Com, MOO, and MoM, I lost many nights of sleep in my youth.
Oh, wow, this news made my day. I wasn’t sure between something like a Diablo 3 or the new Bioshock game what I was most anticipating, but this sweeps everything else aside, hands down. So excited!